Force India co-owner Vijay Mallya believes his team are “edging ever closer to the podium” having scored in all bar one of the races so far this year.

“We celebrated our 100th race in Canada and continued picking up points with both cars. That’s what we need to do if we are to hold on to fifth place in the championship,” said Mallya.

“While I still believe that we are edging ever closer to the podium, we must also focus on consistency and play the long game in the championship, which means scoring points at every race.”

Paul di Resta gave the team its best result of the season so far with fourth in Bahrain. But he has had poor luck in his previous two appearances at home.

He was running seventh in his first F1 race at Silverstone in 2011 when he had the misfortune to enter the pits just as his team mate had gone in with a puncture. He later tangled with Sebastien Buemi.

Last year he didn’t even get as far as the pit stops, going out at the start following a collision with Romain Grosjean.

However he was pleased to bounce back from qualifying a disappointing seventeenth in Canada by finishing seventh:

“I think we can be pretty happy with that,” he said. “All things considered we’ve managed to get some good results and kept up our momentum.”

“The last two results, in particular, felt very satisfying, especially because we managed to get the strategy spot on to come through the field. These results set us up nicely for this weekend, which is a massive one for everyone in the team.”

Are you expecting a better than normal tax refund? Did you get a very nice bonus from your company due to the new tax cut?

Well, if you have a good chunk of change hanging around and potentially can be in Monaco on May 11, you can have a chance to bid on the 1993 McLaren-Ford MP4/8A that the late Ayrton Senna drove in — and won — that year’s Monaco Grand Prix.

We’re not just talking about any race winner. It’s also the same car Senna won his sixth Monaco Grand Prix, and the chassis bears the number six.

It’s also the same car Senna piloted to that season’s F1 championship (his third and final title before sadly being killed the next year) and is the first McLaren driven by Senna that’s ever been sold or put up for auction.

The famed Bonhams auction house is overseeing the sale of the car.

“Any Grand Prix-winning car is important, but to have the golden combination of both Senna and Monaco is a seriously rare privilege indeed,” Bonhams global head of motorsport, Mark Osborne, told The Robb Report.

“Senna and Monaco are historically intertwined, and this car represents the culmination of his achievements at the Monegasque track. This is one of the most significant Grand Prix cars ever to appear at auction, and is certainly the most significant Grand Prix car to be offered since the Fangio Mercedes-Benz W196R, which sold for a world record at auction.”

How much might you need? You might want to get a couple of friends to throw in a few bucks as well.